Foldable frame structure for combination with a limp bag of plastic material to retain the bag in extended position above a support surface

ABSTRACT

A closed rim, for example a squared-off ring of stiff wire material has four clips formed thereon, essentially of U-shape leaving a space the width of the wire rim therebetween; a pair of U-shaped leg structures are resiliently snapped into the clips, the legs being held in extended position by the U-shaped clips and having angled-off ends fitting between the clips to bear against the rim; upon resiliently spreading the legs, they can be slid out from between the U-shaped clips, the ends remaining therein and the legs folded over to form a compact structure; when erected, plastic bags longer than the length of the wire legs are supported around the rim by having their open mouth folded down over the rim, the bottom being supported on the same surface supporting the legs.

[72] Inventor David R. Jensen Pittsford, N.Y. [21] Appl. No. l [22] Filed Jan. 2, 1970 [45] Patented Oct. 19, 1971 [73] Assignee Mobil Oil Corporation [54] FOLDABLE FRAME STRUCTURE FOR COMBINATION WITH A LIMP BAG OF PLASTIC MATERIAL TO RETAIN THE BAG IN EXTENDED POSITION ABOVE A SUPPORT SURFACE 5 Claims, 10 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 2 18/97, 248/ 150 [51] Int. Cl...' 1365b 67/12 [50] Field of Search 248/97, 98, 99,164,150,151,439,173;108/131,l32,133

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,300,861 4/1919 Otte 108/131 2,797,024 6/1957 Martin 248/151 X Primary Examiner Chancellor E. Harris Attorneys-Oswald G. Hayes, Andrew L. Gaboriault and James D. Tierney ABSTRACT: A closed rim, for example a squared-ofiring of stiff wire material has four clips formed thereon, essentially of U-shape leaving a space the width of the wire rim therebetween; a pair of U-shaped leg structures are resiliently snapped into the clips, the legs being held in extended position by the U-shaped clips and having angled-off ends fitting between the clips to bear against the rim; upon resiliently spreading the legs, they can be slid out from between the U- shaped clips, the ends remaining therein and the legs folded over to form a compact structure; when erected, plastic bags longer than the length of the wire legs are supported around the rim by having their open mouth folded down over the rim, the bottom being supported on the same surface supporting the legs.

PATENTEBHBI 1 I 3,614,042

I sum 2 OF 2 INVI'IN'IOIL Dav/UR Jensen FOLDABLE FRAME STRUCTURE FOR COMBINATION WITH A LIMP BAG OF PLASTIC MATERIAL TO RETAIN THE BAG IN EXTENDED POSITION ABOVE A SUPPORT SURFACE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to foldable frame structures to support bags of limp material, and more particularly to hold open, and erect, bags of plastic material such as small trash or garbage bags and the like, especially adapted for use in the home and so constructed that the frame structures can readily be collapsed for ease of packaging and shipping, and sale in a single package together with plastic bags.

Various support structures to hold bags of nonform-sustaining material, such as plastic, fabric, and the like have been proposed. The present invention is particularly concerned with a structure which is so designed that it is self-supporting above a surface, for example a table or counter top, or the like, and will hold a bag extended and erect; and, additionally, being capable of being folded flat for packaging together with the plastic bags which are to be held by the frame. Additionally, the bag must be so constructed that it does not require any tools for erection or collapse to the folded position, yet remains securely erected. The mechanical, load-bearing strength need not be great since the bag, for combination with the support structure can be so designed that the major portion of the weight of the contents themselves is taken up by the support surface against which the bag can bear, the frame structure essentially retaining the bag in position to have its mouth spread wide open for ease of loading. In particular, the mouth of the bag should be spread wide so that, in home use, food preparation can be carried out directly thereover, any waste products falling directly into the spread-open bag. Bags of the type suitable with the present invention are disclosed and described, for example, in US Pat. No. 3,333,690, Marsh, which patent also illustrates a flat package for holding the bags. The frame of the present invention would be compatible with bags packaged as disclosed in the aforementioned patent since, when the frame is collapsed, its outline would not extend beyond that of the package of bags.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly, the collapsible frame for combination with bags of limp, plastic material, includes a wire rim, preferably of essentially square outline (although any other outline, such as round, would be suitable) and adapted to have the mouth of the bags folded thereover. Two pairs of U-shaped clips are secured to the wire rim, adapted to have support legs snapped thereinto. The support legs, themselves, are U-formed wire structures, comparatively stiff but resiliently bendable, the distance between the legs of the U-shaped wires being less than the distance between the clips, so that, when the legs are snapped into the clips, they will be resiliently retained therein. The clips are sufiiciently deep to embrace the end portions of the legs, and thereby hold the legs in extended position. The legs are retained in the clips themselves by bentover angled ends, extending within the clips. The clips are formed with cooperating deformations, or openings, retaining the angledoff portions in contact with the wire rim, to provide a bearing surface and to prevent accidental removal of the legs from the clips. The clips, if desired, can be so formed that the terminal portions of the side branches thereof form camming surfaces, spreading the U-shaped legs slightly outwardly so that an erected frame, with the support legs retained between the branches, will be spread when it is desired to collapse the frame, without further spreading force against the legs themselves being necessary.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description considered in conjunction with the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the erected wire frame, showing insertion of a bag for combination therewith;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the bag in use;

FIG. 3 illustrates the bag removed from the frame, and providing a perspective view of the frame itself, and illustrating tying-ofi of the bag;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a bag removed from a package and before unfolding;

FIG. 5 is a side view of an erected frame of one embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a top view of the frame of FIG. 5, when collapsed;

FIG. 7 is a detail view of the clip and holding arrangement for the legs, as illustrated in FIG. 5, to an enlarged scale;

FIG. 8 is a side view of another embodiment of an erected frame;

FIG. 9 is a top view of the frame of FIG. 8, when collapsed; and

FIG. 10 is a side, detail view of the clip and holding arrangement of FIG. 8, to an enlarged scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION A typical bag for use in the combination of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 4, although other bags may be used. The bag is made of a thin polyethylene film, and preferably is of the gussetted type, that is it has a front and rear wall l0, l1, interconnected by folded-in gussets I2, 13. The bottom of the polyethylene film is seamed together by a heat weld 14. In a preferred embodiment, a weakening or tear line 15 is formed just below the top of the bag forming the mouth, to provide a strip of plastic handily available to the user for later on, when the bag is filled, tying the open mouth of the bag together to prevent spillage of contents. A bag of the type of FIG. 4, when placed on a support surface such as a table will crumple and not remain erect; thus, it is difficult to fill particularly when both hands of the user are otherwise occupied, requiring therefore other means to hold the mouth of the bag open. A frame generally indicated at 20, FIGS. 1, 2, 3, is provided to form a support for the bag, to keep its mouth open and the inside of the bag available for the reception of contents. Frame 20 consists a squared-off rim 21 of stiff wire material, for example plated steel, strong plastic, or other suitable form-stable structural material. The rim 21 is supported a suitable height above the support surface by a pair of support structures or frames 25, 26, each connected to rim 21 by terminal clips 27. The clips are so arranged that they hold the support frames 25, 26 in extending position seen in FIGS. 1 to 3, but permit release of the frames so that the entire frame can be folded flat, as seen in FIGS. 6 and 9.

After erection of the frame, that is moving the support frames 25, 26 into the position shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a bag is opened, placed within the frame, and the mouth folded over the rim 21, as best seen in FIG. 1. The bag, with its mouth fully opened and accessible, can now be used directly as a receptacle, for example to receive kitchen parings, see FIG. 2. When full, the thin strip between the edge of the mouth and perforation 15 (FIG. 4) can be torn off, the bag removed from the frame, the mouth closed and the strip used to tie off the mouth of the bag to prevent spillage of the contents (FIG. 3). Since the bag will be somewhat greater in length than the length of the legs forming the support frames 25, 26, enough bag material will be available to tie off its top-compare FIG. 2 and FIG. 3.

The construction of the frame for the bag-frame combination, and the interconnection of the support frames 25, 26 to the rim 21 is best seen in connection with FIGS. 5 to 10, in which two embodiments of possible interconnections are shown.

FIGS. 5 and 7 illustrate clips 30, consisting essentially of a small piece of sheet metal, or other suitable material, which is essentially Ueshaped with the bend 31 of the U interconnecting a pair of parallel branches 32, 33 secured to opposite sides of the strip of wire, or other material forming the rim 21. The branches 32, 33 of the U-clip 30 may be spot-welded, brazed, adhered, or otherwise secured to frame 21. The length of clips 32 is somewhat greater than the diameter of the material forming the support frames 25, 26. Preferably, the material forming support frames 25, 26, and rim 21 is of similar dimension. Thus, clips 30 placed around rim 21 can equally receive the legs of the U-shaped support frames 25, 26, which have an angled-off intumed end 34 extending into the clip 30. The U- shaped frames have an interconnecting strip at their bottom which is shorter than the distance by which the clips are placed on rim 2], so that the legs will snap resiliently into the clips and will be retained therein by the springiness of the support frames themselves.

The bottom, or bent over portion 31 of clips 30 is notched, or recessed, as seen at 35. Clips 30 are longer than the greatest cross-sectional dimension of support frames 25, 26 so that, when erected, the natural springiness of the support frames will cause the bent over ends 34 to snap towards each other, the leg portion of the U-shaped support frames seating in recesses 35, and the inside surfaces of side branches 32, 33, of the U-shaped clips will maintain the frames in erected position. The bent over angled-off end 34 of the leg portions of the support frames will form a bearing and support surface for rim 21, although the bags preferably are large enough so that any weight of material placed therein will be primarily supported by the table, or other support surface on which the frame and bag are placed.

To prevent removal, or looseness of the angled-off portions and to keep them in contact with the rim, a small projection 36 is punched at both branches 32, 33 towards each other, retaining the angled-off portion 34 against rim 21.

The frame can readily be collapsed by applying pressure against the legs in a direction perpendicular to the paper (FIG. 5, FIG. 7). The clips 30 are formed adjacent the notches 35 with camming surfaces 37, so that, upon rotation of the legs from the position of FIG. 5 to the position of FIG. 6, the legs will cam out of the notches and towards the side surfaces of the inner branch 33 of the clips, thus being released from the recess and from engagement of the leg portion 38 between branches 32, 33 and permitting folding of the frames as best seen in FIG. 6.

FIGS. 8 to illustrate a different embodiment of the holding clips. A clip 40 again is formed of U-shaped sheet material, for example sheet metal; it is mounted in such a manner that the bend 41 of the U is not located parallel to the rim 21, but rather transverse thereto, the branches 42, 43 of clip 40 grasping frame 21 from their sides (See Fig. 9). The bend 41, itself, has a cut therein to permit placing the branches 42, 43 around rim 21, and further is formed with an opening 45 to receive the bentover end 34 ofleg 38. Since the U-bend 41 requires a finite width of material, clip 40 will project beyond the rim 2] by a distance which is greater than the largest cross-sectional dimension of support frames 25, 26. Clips 40 may again be secured to rim 21 by any suitable means, for example welding, brazing and the like.

The end surfaces of the branches 42, 43 may be formed with camming surfaces similar to camming surface 37; since, in some embodiments, this will weaken the clip structure, the frame is collapsed from the position shown in FIG. 8 to the position shown in FIG. 9 by manually squeezing the legs of support frames 25, 26 outwardly, against the inherent spring tension of the cross connection, to snap them out of engagement with the inner surfaces of branches 42, 43 and permit their rotation into the collapsed form shown in FIG. 9. The inner surface of U-bend 41 itself will form a stop to maintain the angled-over end portion 34 adjacent to rim 21; if an additional stop point is provided, then camming surfaces similar to camming surfaces 37 can readily be formed on any material from which clips may be made, and collapse of the bag can, as before, be done with one hand, namely by merely pushing against the sides of the extended support frames.

The support frames of the present invention provide a simple easily erected frame to hold open small receiving bags of limp material which are not self-form sustaining; when collapsed, they take up little room and present no packaging problems. For appearance, if wire is used, it may be covered with plastic tubing, extruded plastic molding, or the like; plastics of sufficient strength may be used themselves, in which case the clips can simply be secured to the frame by being molded therewith as an integral part.

The structure of the present invention is particularly applicable for small bags adapted to receive, for example, potato peelings, apple parings and the like, for placement on a kitchen counter or table, the weight of the contents themselves being borne by the table on which the frame is placed. The frame is primarily, though not exclusively present to hold the mouth of the bag in open position. The size of the frame is not critical; atypical size which is suitable for kitchen counter use would be as follows:

Rim 21: 15 by 15 cm.

Height of rim 21 above the support surface (length of frame legs 25,26): 17 cm.

Length ofwall panels 10, 11 of the bag: 35 cm.

Width of tear off strip defined by tear line 15: 3 cm.

Depth ofgussetts, l2, l3: 6 cm.

Width of wall panels l0, 11: 17 cm.

It can thus be seen that the entire frame, when folded, presents an outline which is approximately half the size of a folded bag, so that the frame can readily be packaged together with folded-over bags in one package without crowding, or requiring additional packing space. Additionally, the length of the bag is sufficiently great to permit bulging as it is being filled, with sufiicient overlap for the edge to be folded over the rim 21 of the frame.

Various changes and modifications may be made within the inventive concept and in accordance with requirements of design, or material. For example, the rim may be circular; or the support frames 25, 26 may have different shapes, one of the support frames, for example, being triangular, or entirely omitted if the frame can be suspended in a permanent location at one side thereof. The bowed construction of the support frames, as best seen in FIGS. 6 and 9 provides particularly good resilience and springiness to the support frames, and additionally improves the stability of the frame when erected, particularly on surfaces which may not be entirely smooth or even.

I claim:

1. Foldable frame structure to provide a support for bags of limp material and hold said bags in extended position above a support surface comprising:

a closed rim formed of a strip of material and lying essentially in one plane;

at least one U-shaped support structure, the legs of said U supporting said rim above said surface and being interconnected by the bend of said U, and spacing said legs by a predetermined distance, said legs having angled-off projections at the free ends thereof;

and at least one pair of bentover clips of sheet material having substantially parallel branches secured to opposite sides of the strip of material forming the rim and located on the rim by a distance different from said predetermined distance, the terminal portions of said legs, and said angled-ofi' projections being inserted into said clips, said angled-off projections being resiliently engaged in said clips and releasably retained therein located adjacent said rim;

the branches of said sheet material clips extending from said rim in a direction essentially transverse to the plane of said rim to hold the legs of the U-shaped support, when inserted between said branches in extending direction with respect to said plane of said rim;

said bentover clips of sheet material being further characterized in that the bend of the clips extends essentially parallel to the portion of said rim therebeneath to form a loop structure, said branches having a length greater than the thickness of the legs of said U-shaped support structure whereby said branches will hold said legs therebetween.

2. Structure according to claim 1 in combination with a bag of limp, plastic material having an open mouth, and an extended length greater than the length of said legs, said bag having its mouth folded over said rim.

3. Structure according to claim 2 including a tear line formed in the material of the bag adjacent the mouth end and beyond the fold line of said bag over said rim.

4. Structure according to claim 1 including means engaging said angled-ofi projections to retain them adjacent said rim comprising at least one inwardly extending projection extending from one of said branches of the clips towards the other and spaced from the outermost surface of the rim engaged by the clip by a distance substantially equal to the thickness of said legs of the U.

5. Structure according to claim 1 wherein the branches of said clips extend beyond said rim by a distance greater than the largest cross-sectional dimension of the legs of the U; and the terminal surfaces of said branches away from said rim are formed with camming surfaces resiliently engaged by said legs when in erected position and camming said legs resiliently away from engaged position between said branches upon application of force to said legs in a direction transverse to the plane of the branches. 

1. Foldable frame structure to provide a support for bags of limp material and hold said bags in extended position above a support surface comprising: a closed rim formed of a strip of material and lying essentially in one plane; at least one U-shaped support structure, the legs of said U supporting said rim above said surface and being interconnected by the bend of said U, and spacing said legs by a predetermined distance, said legs having angled-off projections at the free ends thereof; and at least one pair of bentover clips of sheet material having substantially parallel branches secured to opposite sides of the strip of material forming the rim and located on the rim by a distance different from said predetermined distance, the terminal portions of said legs, and said angled-off projections being inserted into said clips, said angled-off projections being resiliently engaged in said clips and releasably retained therein located adjacent said rim; the branches of said sheet material clips extending from said rim in a direction essentially transverse to the plane of said rim to hold the legs of the U-shaped support, when inserted between said branches in extending direction with respect to said plane of said rim; said bentover clips of sheet material being further characterized in that the bend of the clips extends essentially parallel to the portion of said rim therebeneath to form a loop structure, said branches having a length greater than the thickness of the legs of said U-shaped support structure whereby said branches will hold said legs therebetween.
 2. Structure according to claim 1 in combination with a bag of limp, plastic material having an open mouth, and an extended length greater than the length of said legs, said bag having its mouth folded over said rim.
 3. Structure according to claim 2 including a tear line formed in the material of the bag adjacent the mouth end and beyond the fold line of said bag over said rim.
 4. Structure according to claim 1 including means engaging said angled-off projections to retain them adjacent said rim comprising at least one inwardly extending projection extending from one of said branches of the clips towards the other and spaced from the outermost surface of the rim engaged by the clip by a distance substantially equal to the thickness of said legs of the U.
 5. Structure according to claim 1 wherein the branches of said clips extend beyond said rim by a distance greater than the largest cross-sectional dimension of the legs of the U; and the terminal surfaces of said branches away from said rim are formed with camming surfaces resiliently engaged by said legs when in erected position and camming said legs resiliently away from engaged position between said branches upon application of force to said legs in a direction transverse to the plane of the branches. 